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Wheatley to seek Cabinet's approval for Cyber Academy

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr Andrew Wheatley, is to seek Cabinet's approval of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and Israel Aerospace Industries, to facilitate the creation of the region's first Cyber Academy.

Wheatley, who was making his contribution to the 2018/19 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, informed that the academy is intended to build a professional and skilled cyber workforce by providing training and practical experience and certification in the areas of cybersecurity, cyber defence and cyber intelligence.

The minister said the academy will be a centre of excellence in the region and will make Jamaica the regional leader in cybersecurity and cyber defence.

“We face many challenges in our fight against cybercrime. One of those is the ability to find and retain expertise in the field. For our country to be equipped to deal with the threats associated with increased use of technology and the enablement of a truly digital society, we must have qualified experts to protect our public- and private-sector assets,” he said.

He added that cyberthreats and cybercrime have been escalating at an exponential rate globally.

Wheatley pointed out that Jamaica lost over US$100 million to cybercrime activities in 2016.

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